


Hawkeye and Hawkeye: Civil War

by sssssssim



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Civil War, F/M, HAWKEYES - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-04
Updated: 2016-01-04
Packaged: 2018-05-11 20:10:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5640367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sssssssim/pseuds/sssssssim
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Ultron, Kate goes to check up on Clint.<br/>When the Civil War starts, Clint asks for Kate's help.<br/>When the Civil War ends, Hawkeye and Hawkeye celebrate together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hawkeye and Hawkeye: Civil War

**Author's Note:**

> HOLY GOSH THIS HAS BEEN A RIDE
> 
> →I have to start by saying that I haven't read Civil War, and that everything I know about Kate comes from reading Faction's Hawkeye series.  
> →That being said, this takes place in a world when Clint didn't get a wife in Ultron, but he was married to Bobbi; in a world sometime after Agents of Shield 3x10 (not that it really matters?!); in a world where I know so little about what's supposed to happen in Civil War, it's not even funny (Still, there's no Major Character Death warning). But I should mention that this is written from Team Cap's side of things.   
> →So this... doesn't make a lot of sense. You should read it either way, I'm just saying.   
> →It alternates between Kate and Clint's POV, but it's still written in the 3rd person (because when will I not write something in the 3rd person?!).  
> →Enjoy! And please let me know what you think O:)

 

They were all in the communal area of the new Avengers facility. Well, the ones who were left. Thor was off in space looking for answers on the Infinity Stones and Bruce was MIA (Nat was depressed about it, even if she was hiding it well).

Steve had just come back from his first training session with the new Avengers, but there was no lie about it, everybody was still exhausted, physically and emotionally.

Tony was lying on a couch, one hand dangling over the edge, blinking rapidly at the ceiling. Steve was on the floor leaning against that couch, absently flicking through tv channels, Nat was on a bar stool, reading something off her tablet, and Clint, well… he was sprawled on another couch, still in pain.

His injuries hadn't been fatal, but there were many of them and they hurt like a bitch. He could barely move, if he’s being honest, and that was with straight up morphine in his veins.

It wasn’t good.

He could still hear that damn kid saying “You didn’t see that coming?” before collapsing and giving his last breath. He couldn’t look Wanda in the eyes, even if she told him, specifically, to not feel guilty, that her brother wouldn’t have wanted that.

Last night, Steve asked him about Bucky. About how he should go about bringing him back. Clint didn’t get it, what could he possibly know?  And then Cap explained, about how Hydra forced Bucky to do things he didn’t want, awful things, and yeah, that cut close to home. So his own guilt came back, his own disappointment in himself and the angry need to shoot an arrow between Loki’s eyes.

He missed his dog.

‘Mr. Barnes’, Friday’s voice startled them all, ‘there is a young lady here to see you.’

What.

‘Did you tell anybody?’, Tony frowned at him. ‘This facility’s supposed to be secret.’

Clint shook his head, because he didn’t tell anybody. He didn’t even speak with anybody outside of the building in days.

‘Send guards’, Steve said, solemnly.

‘I already have’, Friday answered quickly. ‘She took them out.’

‘They’re dead?’, Steve was on his feet in an instant.

‘Just unconscious’, the AI said. ‘The Iron Legion is still out of commission and-‘

Friday stopped talking, which was weird, and had them all glancing at each other.

‘Mr. Barton’, she went on, ‘she said she’s here for her dog.’

Oh, fuck.

‘Kate’, Clint breathed out.

‘You didn’t call her?’, Natasha said, raising a very judgmental eyebrow at him.

‘She didn’t pick up.’, he said, which wasn’t exactly a lie. He did try to call, once, immediately after Ultron was dealt with. But all the networks were down, and after that, he couldn’t bear to hear her voice.

He knew she would be worried. But she was still angry at him, all for good reasons, he just thought she’d leave it at that. Leave them at that. Leave him. Lord knows he deserved it.

‘Friday’, Nat said with finality. ‘She’s not a threat. Let her up and add her to our database.’

‘Yes, ma’am’, the AI quickly answered, as Tony and Cap started asking questions.

Clint ignored them, even if he kinda wanted to punch Tony in the face for the comment about Clint’s fucked up love life. He tried getting up, but he winced and Nat yelled at him to stay down. So he did.

When she came in, she looked awful, even if her clothes were clean and colorful. There was a big cut on her lower lip and she had a black eye, but Clint could tell they weren’t from the brawl downstairs. The sunglasses that were up on her head were slightly crooked and her hair was messily piled up on top of her head.

She didn’t have a bow with her, and Clint kinda wished she would have. She’d make this end faster with a bow.

Kate completely ignored everyone in the room, eyes zoning in on him immediately, and she all but marched out of the elevator, stopping only when she was too feet away from his couch.

‘God damn it, Clint’, she seethed.

‘Hey, Katie-Kate’, he breathed out, smiling up at her.

‘Don’t do that, asshole’, she rolled her eyes, still angry, but then she took a deep breath and calmed down. ‘You didn’t call.’

‘I tried’, he kept his eyes on her, it was hard to look away. ‘Wanted to tell you I was okay, but it didn’t work.’

She swallowed, thickly, anger still present in her eyes.

‘You tried calling after. Ever think of calling before all the shit goes down?’

Clint shrugged, and opened his mouth to say something. She didn’t let him.

‘You didn’t have it handled, the world almost ended and you look like a truck ran you over. Twice.’

‘I don’t want to interrupt’, Tony said without any remorse, ‘but who the hell are you?’

Kate’s eyes moved to him, and they widened. Same reaction to noticing that Steve was in the room. Clint smiled, she was always adorable when she was star-struck. Well, superhero-struck.

She looked to Nat next, and Kate got a little softer around the edges, when the redhead smirked at her.

Kate shook her head, turning her back completely to Clint.

‘I’m Kate Bishop.’, she said strongly.

Tony took a step forward. ‘Derek Bishop’s daughter? The one he tried to get married for years, the one who went off the social circuit a couple of months ago?’

Clint didn’t need to see her face to know she was glaring at Stark.

‘Not anymore’, she said, stiffly. ‘I’m Hawkeye now.’

‘No’, Tony didn't miss a beat. ‘Clint is.’

‘So am I’, Kate said, and Clint could barely keep his laughter in, it took a lot to make Tony and Steve look this confused.

Kate turned to look at Cap. ‘You shut my team down.’

‘Oh’, Steve blinked. ‘The kids.’

And again, Clint didn’t see her face, but she was glaring, for sure.

‘This is pointless’, she said, throwing her hands up in the air and turning back to Clint.

‘Where’s my dog?’

‘ _My_ dog’, Clint pointed out, ‘is at Simone’s.’

‘And you’re staying here?’

‘I can’t really move’, Clint admitted, to which Kate nodded.

‘I’m taking my dog’, she said. ‘You’ll get him back after the weekend.’

She turned around, took a few steps towards the elevator, before stopping and taking a deep breath, turning to look back at the room.

‘Thanks for saving the world, again. I’m glad you’re’, her eyes skipped to Clint, ‘mostly okay. But maybe you should think of calling more backup next time’, she looked pointedly at Cap.

‘I mean, us _kids_ ’, she all but seethed, ‘were in different parts of the world, but we still had to fight the robots.’

‘No, you didn’t’, Tony was quick to say. ‘All of Ultron’s goons were with us, in Sokovia. We had to destroy them all in order to destroy Ultron’s programming.’

Kate looked at him for a long time. ‘Yeah, we figured as much. Would have been nice to know that for sure, but we thought they had to be destroyed. And we did.’

Tony kept shaking his head. ‘There were no-‘

‘There were’, Kate said strongly. ‘A low number, compared to what you dealt with, but they came after us. After me and my team, after Spiderman, Daredevil and a couple of other superheroes I promised not to mention.’

Tony’s jaw was on the floor, so was Cap’s. Nat seemed intrigued. Clint felt like crying.

‘You’re not the center of the universe’, she said, a bit more softly, before turning to look at Clint.  Kate wanted to say something more, but she didn’t. She sighed and left without another word.

Clint felt like crying even more. He blamed the pain.

Yeah, he blamed the pain.

‘So’, Tony said after a while. ‘Do all your ex-girlfriends take on your superhero name?’

‘Drop it’, Clint said with much more force than he intended, considering how Tony took a step back.

Thankfully, he left the room, Cap close on his heels.

‘Are you okay?’, Nat asked very softly, voice barely heard.

‘No’, he admitted.

There was a pause.

‘Are you going to be okay?’, she went on.

Clint nodded, and she left him to his own devices.

↙↗↑↓↖↘

The second time Kate saw Captain America, she was just stepping out of the shower one evening, a small towel barely covering her. She did not plan it.

She didn’t plan for her living room to be crowded with men wearing superhero suits, only half of which she recognized.

Clint was front and center, bleeding from several cuts, his suit torn in places and his bow still on his back. He was smiling at her, only slightly sheepish.

‘We need a place to lay low’, he said.

Kate blinked. ‘Who are you running from?’

Clint’s smile took a proud turn, the way it did when she did something right during their training. But then, the smile fell completely, his expression taking a cold look she never wanted to see on him again.

‘Stark.’

‘Shit’, was Kate’s immediate reaction. Then, she looked at the other men in her living room. They were all tired and bleeding, standing awkwardly and stiffly around, looking at her with apprehension in their eyes. Except for Captain America, he was staring at his shoes.

‘I need underwear’, was what Kate decided on saying, making Clint smirk at her.

She shook herself. ‘Bathrooms are that way, first aid kits under the sinks. All my men clothes are in the living room, drawers under the tv.’

Clint’s smirk grew. ‘Do you own a lot of men clothes, girly-girl?’

She blushed, she knew she did, but Kate pushed through it.

‘Yeah, actually. Considering all the men in my life end up dripping blood on my carpet eventually.’

She turned around and closed the door to her bedroom with more force that she should have, but he deserved it.

God damn Clint Barton.

He always did this. He’d pull away from her, and sometimes she fought to get him back, but sometimes, like now, she let him. She was still mad, so mad with him. So she let him, and she thought she’d be okay. She thought she’d be able to get over the Feelings, fucking capital F worthy Feelings she had for him, and get over it, get over him.

And then he’d come back to her. Asking for help, rarely. More often than not, with a joke, a new pet name and a flirty smile on his face.

And she’d be roped right in, into everything that Clint Barton is.

God damn Clint Barton.

She lingered in her bedroom long enough for the water to stop running in both bathrooms.

When she made her way into the living room, wearing purple jeans and a yellow shirt, Clint grinned at her. He changed into some of his clothes (that Kate stole from his apartment at some point, oops) and he was stitching up the shoulder of a guy she didn’t know.

Looking around, she saw that everyone was clean and wearing fresh clothes, med supplies scattered all around the living room.

‘So, I’m Kate’, she said awkwardly. ‘Kate Bishop.’

Cap managed to smile at her. ‘Sorry for the intrusion.’

‘No problem’, she shrugged. ‘Happens often enough. I’m pretty sure the building guard thinks I’m a prostitute.’

Clint snorted at that. ‘I’m kinda jealous, this is the first time I see your apartment.’

Kate glared at him for a while, but turned around to look at the guy he was stitching up.

‘I’m Scott’, he waved, grinning.

‘I didn’t recognize your suit’.

He pouted at that. ‘I’m Ant-Man.’

‘Oh’, Kate blinked, eyes scanning the room for his suit. ‘Cool.’

‘I’m cooler’, a large black man said. ‘Sam Wilson’. He extended his hand and Kate politely shook it.

‘Don’t know you either’.

He didn’t pout, but he rolled his eyes. ‘I’m Falcon.’

‘Ah’, Kate nodded. ‘Metal wings, got it.’

With that, she turned to the last man in the room. He looked vaguely familiar, and was the only one who was wearing a long sleeved shirt. Kate caught a glimpse of metal, but she didn’t dwell on it, because he was frowning, very strongly, at her.

‘I’m James’, he finally said, and he looked like it caused him great pain to say it.

But, James…

‘Barnes’, Kate breathed out. ‘You’re Cap’s BFF from the 40s, the one that died…, well, you didn’t die, clearly.’

She just blinked at him.

‘You know the Winter Soldier?’, Clint said, and James’ expression turned murderous, but he didn’t look away from her.

‘Yeah, I read the files’, Kate admitted, trying to keep her brain working.

‘That’s Barnes’, Clint explained. ‘Hydra brainwashed him.’

Kate flinched, hard, because she knew a lot about brainwashing, because after Clint went through it, he broke down one night and told her everything. If a couple of days of it almost drove Clint insane, James must have had… 70? 80? years of it.

And Kate remembered seeing footage of the Winter Soldier fighting Captain America when the helicarriers fell.

‘Shit’, she said out loud, and James flinched at that. ‘Good to have you back’, she was grasping at straws, and she didn’t need to turn around to know that Clint was laughing at her.

‘Thank you’, James said, narrowing his eyes at her. ‘Who are you?’

Kate blinked. ‘I just told you.’

‘No, I mean’, he tilted his head. ‘Can we trust you? Why did Barton bring us here?’

Kate turned to look at Clint. He was smiling at her, but she could see the hesitance in his eyes. Still, he didn’t think he could ask for help. And clearly he didn’t tell any of them who she was, not really.

Steve might know, but one look at him told Kate that he was just as distrustful as Barnes.

Kate sighed, and made her way to her open space kitchen. She started making coffee, 6 cups of it, and even though she knew Clint hated them, she got out premade sandwiches and handed them to the men. Three each, because men were disgusting even without weird superserums.

Then, seeing that Clint was done stitching up Scott, she pushed him onto the counter and started working on the very nasty cut he had on his side.

She talked as she worked, and Clint ate, not saying a word.

‘I’m Hawekeye in the Young Avengers’, Kate started by saying. ‘Which is a team that Cap doesn’t like to think about, considering when we asked for training, he told us to go home and ask our parents.’

‘How old are you?’, Sam asked and Kate hesitated for only a beat.

‘21’.

‘Girly-girl’, Clint said fondly, and Kate poked at his wound.

‘After Cap screwed us over’, she went on, pointedly not looking at him, ‘the rest of the team stopped fighting. I didn’t. Clint took me under his metaphorical wing, trained me and helped me and we’ve been fighting together ever since.’

‘Is that true?’, Steve said, slowly, and she knew he was talking to Clint.

‘Yeah. She’s better than I am.’, he said it easily, like it wasn’t this huge thing that made her heart beat faster.

‘Barton’, Steve sighed, but Clint cut him off.

‘She saved my ass more times than I can count, Cap. She’s more than capable.’

Kate was done with the stitches, and her fingers lingered after applying some gauze over them, making Clint look down at her.

‘Things have really gone to shit, Katie.’

She figured as much. So she took a deep breath and turned to look at Steve and James, but mostly at Steve.

‘You don’t trust me, and that’s fine. I didn’t give you any reason to. But you trust Clint.’

He nodded.

‘So you should trust his judgment’, Kate went on. ‘The fact that he came here tells me a lot, you know. Because he never does. He always comes to me after things happen, to help him pick up the pieces. The fact that you’re here now tells me that you’re in deep shit and that you could use all the help you can get.’

‘And you can help?’, James said, coldly. ‘You’re a kid.’

‘Yeah’, Kate nodded. ‘I’m the kid who helped Clint take down the Russian Mob, who has on speed dial a shapeshifter who can turn himself into the Hulk, an alternate-universe lady-version of Cap, a mutant that’s telepathic, another mutant that runs very _very_ fast, and another one that can do magic. I also have a rich dad and access to his accounts. And’, she couldn’t help but grin, ‘I’m wicked with a bow.’

There was a long silence that followed her speech. Cap and James were staring at her.

‘Well’, Scott said, ‘I sure want her on our team.’

‘Yeah’, Sam said, quickly. ‘Hell yeah.’

‘She’s already on my team, so…’, Clint trailed off.

Cap and James shared a look, and then they both nodded.

‘Good’, Kate grinned. ‘Now. Someone tell me what the fuck’s going on?’

‘Language, young lady ’, Cap said, and Clint started laughing.

↙↗↑↓↖↘

There were a couple of reasons why Clint loved Kate so much. Right now, he loved her because the first thing she did after they explained everything was to ask about Nat.

‘Natasha's on Stark’s side, isn’t she?’

‘Yeah’, Cap sighed, and Clint was probably the only one in the room, except for Steve, who knew how deep their friendship went.

‘I get it’, Kate sighed, making Clint turn to look, incredulously, at her.

‘No, really’, she went on, frowning, ‘she’s spent all of her life reporting to someone. Be it KGB or SHIELD.’

‘That should only make her want to get out of it’, Steve said, somewhat forcefully.

‘It should’, Kate shrugged. ‘But you know her. She’s good at following orders, but she has to agree with them. She must think this Superhero Registration Act is the right thing to do.’

‘What do you think?’, Sam asked, and Clint saw Kate flinch, but she did look at the man when she answered.

‘I tried to go down that road before, and Cap shot me down. I’m still pissed about that’, she spared a look at Steve, ‘but on the long run, that was for the best. I think. I wouldn’t have gotten as far as I have if I would’ve had to answer to some boss or handler.’

Steve’s eyes landed on Clint, then, and he tried to ignore it.

‘You still have leadership.’, he said before his brain caught up. ‘I mean, you’re leading the mini-Avengers.’

Kate threw an apple at his head.

‘Stop calling us that, you’re not that old. And yes, I’m leading them, but I never give an order before asking if they think it’s a good idea.’

‘Nobile’, Cap pointed out, ‘doesn’t always work well.’

‘I know’, she sighed, but didn’t explain more. ‘So who else?’

‘War Machine and Vision’, Sam said, and Kate nodded, ‘and Black Panther, and no’, he cut her off, ‘we don’t know who he is either, but we know he’s fast and can kick ass. He almost kicked Steve’s ass.’

‘Almost’, Steve said rather gruffly.

‘Dude, you ran away’, Sam pointed out. ‘Which was a good decision from what I saw.’

Steve kept grumbling under his breath, until Scott interrupted him.

‘I think I saw Spiderman too. I’m not sure, I was a little preoccupied at the moment, but I saw some red and blue action going on.’

Kate sighed, deeply. She drank her entire cup of coffee in one go (another reason why Clint loved her so much) and straightened her back.

‘We should get out of here.’

‘You said it was safe’, Cap glared at Clint and he frowned at Kate.

‘It is. Why wouldn’t it be?’

‘Because Stark knows who I am. I mean’, she blushed and looked away from Clint, confusing him even more, ‘last time I saw you, things got pretty emotional and he was there. He might not think about it, but he might think about checking.’

Clint sighed, because she was right.

‘Any ideas?’, Sam asked, all business.

The men shared looks, but nobody was forthcoming with anything.

Kate stood up and went to her bedroom, coming back with a couple of duffle bags.

‘Pack whatever clothes you can find, and the fridge and pantry. The weapons closet is in my bedroom, but I’m not gonna lie, it’s mostly arrows.’

Everybody stared at her.

‘You got an idea, then?’, Clint said.

‘No idea, no’, she shrugged. ‘Just two suv’s with black windows parked underground , and a house in the middle of the woods under a bogus name, with no paper or digital trail to lead it back to me.’

Clint was impressed.

‘It was my mom’s’, she told him, lowering her voice. ‘Dad would’ve killed me if he knew I kept it.’

‘You don’t have to do this’, Cap said, moving until he was right in front of Kate. ‘We appreciate all the help, but this isn’t your fight.’

‘Yes it is’, Kate blinked up at him, blushing for some reason. ‘I’m as opposed to this as you are.’

Steve’s eyes skipped to his.

‘No’, Kate rolled her eyes, ‘I’m not doing it for Clint, I’m doing it for me. Because I am my own god damn superhero and I really don’t need the Government breathing down my neck.’

Clint wanted to hug her. And never let go, really. But he didn’t. Instead he took one of the duffel bags and Barnes, and headed to her bedroom.

He wasn’t surprised to find it painted purple. He was surprised to see a poster of his bullseye (trademark courteously of Pepper) over her vanity. He wanted to tease her, maybe hug her, but he didn’t. Instead he focused on gathering ammo, while Kate packed a bag for herself.

‘Where’s my dog?’, she asked at some point.

‘My dog is home alone’, Clint sighed.

‘I’ll call Simone on the way’, she nodded, and Clint nodded back, smiling despite himself.

↙↗↑↓↖↘

Clint sat shotgun in the car that Kate drove, and Scott and Sam both joined them in the back, leaving Cap and James in the other car.

‘They’ve got a lot to talk about’, Sam explained upon seeing her raised eyebrow. ‘James just came back.’

Kate didn’t have anything to say to that, so she didn’t. In fact, they were silent for the entire drive. They only stopped once, at a hole in the wall grocery store that was open 24/7, and she was the only one to go in, much to Clint’s disapproval. She came out with a cart filled with food and water and even Clint’s favorite beer (he needed comfort, okay?), and she made sure to pay with cash.

Cap wanted to comment on it, but she waved him off pretty quickly. Lord knows she has more than enough money.

The house was gorgeous, and she knew it. It wasn’t incredibly large, but it had three bedrooms and a pool outside, the backyard going straight into the forest. The best part was that it was secluded, 10 miles from the nearest house, and had a top notch security system.

As soon as they were in, the men sprawled in the living room and started talking strategy. Kate sighed.

‘I’m not your maid’, she interrupted whoever was talking. ‘I’m not opposed to making food, but I need help.’

Sam all but jumped to his feet. ‘I make a pretty good breakfast.’

She checked the clock, it was 4 am. ‘Pancakes’, Kate decided, and she didn’t mean to look at Clint, but she caught his grin.

↙↗↑↓↖↘

Clint was trying his hardest to focus on what everybody was saying, but he was also trying to focus on the way Kate moved around the kitchen.

It wasn’t the first time he saw her cook, why was it so special now?

Maybe because Sam was in there with her. Maybe because every time they touched, Clint wanted to get there and take his place.

It wasn’t a new feeling. It was always there, in the back of his mind, this need to keep touching Kate.

But now, it was stronger.

He realized that everything that was happening was affecting him. His mental health was dodgy on a good day, even without the impeding fight with Natasha and Stark and …

Clint sighed. He looked at Kate again.

She was already looking at him, and she blushed when their eyes met. That was new. He didn’t know what to make of that.

But Kate smiled at him. It was small, but it was there. It made him feel better.

And then Sam said something to her, and she turned to him, snorting unattractively. Again, he wanted to march there and take his place.

‘Barton’, Steve snapped his fingers in front of his face, and Clint realized that he had zoned out.

‘I know I’m missing something’, Cap pointedly looked at Kate, ‘but you’re the one who brought her in.’

‘You’re not missing anything’. It sounded like a lie even to his own ears, and Cap threw him a look.

‘We’re good’, Clint said a bit more strongly.

‘It’s not any of my business’, Steve smiled a bit, ‘but we need your head in this.’

‘Well that’s gonna end horribly’, Kate said, coming back to the living room. ‘Considering Clint doesn’t have a brain.’

He glared, but he knew it lacked force.

‘Come on, superheroes’, Kate said. ‘Table’s set.’

Neither of them moved.

‘When’s the last time you ate in an actual kitchen, sitting on an actual chair?’, she asked, clearly annoyed, putting her hands on her hips.

Clint tried to remember, he really did, but nothing came to mind.

‘I think it was the 60s’, James said, and they all turned to look at him with different levels of horrified looks.

Kate was the first one to recover. ‘If you ever need a hug, I’m right here.’

Then they were all staring at her with different levels of horrified looks.

‘But until you’re up for that’, Kate went on, not looking away from Barnes, ‘I’ll pamper you up how I can. With delicious pancakes in a fairly modest kitchen, and I’ll even give you the fluffiest blanket in the house.’

There was a very lengthily pause.

‘Doll’, James finally said, tilting his head. ‘I can kill you in 10 different ways without even getting up from this couch.’

‘Good’, Kate grinned. ‘You don’t wanna do that, though, cause Clint’s gonna get depressed and he’s a very ugly crier. Really, it’s hideous.’

Clint sighed, got up from the couch, put a hand around Kate’s waist, picked her up, put her over his shoulder, ignored her protests, and took her to the kitchen.

It was only after he set her down, only after she slapped him lightly on the chest, only after she winked at James as he came in, it was only then that Clint realized that this wasn’t just him loving Kate. It wasn’t just him wanting to protect her.

It was jealousy.

↙↗↑↓↖↘

They kept talking strategy during dinner. Kate didn’t have a lot of input, because she didn’t know the people they were dealing with, so she kept quiet mostly.

She also tried to keep Clint from stealing food off her plate, but it was pretty useless.

Scott and he washed the dishes, as Kate and Steve made sure the security system was up and running.

‘So there’s three bedrooms upstairs’, she explained when it was clear everybody wanted to sleep, ‘and even though the security system’s on, someone should sleep downstairs. Just in case.’

‘I don’t mind’, Sam said, and Kate dragged him along, explaining how to pull out the couch and where to find sheets and blankets.

‘We should share’, she heard Cap say.

‘I’m not… good with sleeping’, James said slowly.

‘Yeah’, Steve didn’t miss a beat, ‘and I’m the only one strong enough to take you on if you wake up trashing.’

There was a lengthy pause.

‘I don’t know you well enough, man’, Clint said probably to Scott, ‘so I’ll bunk with Katie.’

‘Are you sure about that?’, Cap said, a hint of something she couldn’t define in his voice.

‘Wouldn’t be the first time.’

Kate sighed and made his way back to them.

‘You know, Clint’, she leveled him with a look, ‘you saying stuff like that is the reason everybody thinks I’m your flavor on the side.’

She doesn’t know why she said it, except pure stupidity. Maybe exhaustion. Still, it was worth it, seeing Steve and James blushing furiously and trying to hide it.

‘Girly-girl’, Clint said in a flirty voice. ‘What are you talking about? You’re not my flavor on the side, I don’t have a main flavor for you to be on the side of.’

Really, what did she expect?

‘Maybe we could-‘, Cap started, and bless his soul, really, but no.

‘It’s fine, Cap’, she shook her head. ‘I’m no blushing virgin and I’ve seen Clint naked more time than I can count. Plus’, she winked at him, ‘I know all his weak spots.’

She cackled when she saw Clint putting his hands over his crotch.

‘Just…’, Cap sighed. ‘Call me Steve, will you?’

‘Sure, Steve’, she grinned, very pleased. ‘Now let me show you where the blankets are.’

↙↗↑↓↖↘

Kate took the bathroom first, and Clint was left dealing with putting sheets on the bed. He was busy with it, so he wasn’t prepared for Kate coming back into the bedroom, wearing only one of his shirts and some very short shorts.

Her hair was braided, her feet were bare, and really, it wasn’t the first time they shared a bed, this wasn’t the most unclothed he has seen her, but it was worse now.

Clint wasn’t proud of it, but he kind of ran to the bathroom, and took his time there to think.

He loved Kate. Yes.

He wanted to protect her. Yes.

She was his friend. Yes.

No.

Yes.

She was his friend and he wanted her to be more. Yes.

Way to go, Barton. One of the few good relationships in your life, and you managed to screw it up by falling for her.

Although, really, he shouldn’t be so surprised. It’s been a long time coming. Nat warned him about it, and even Steve could see it, after such a short time of watching them together.

Yeah. Clint was kind of in love with Kate.

And they were supposed to share a bed.

And he didn’t have any pajama pants.

He used to be better at dealing with girl stuff, Clint thought.

↙↗↑↓↖↘

Kate was already tucked away on her side of the bed (it’s not weird that they know which are their sides, nope) when Clint came out of the bathroom.

He didn’t say anything, as he turned off the light and got under the covers, and Kate was thankful that the bed was big enough for him to not need to touch her.

That didn’t stop him, though. It wasn’t much, but he turned on his side and pushed a leg between hers (and oh god he wasn’t wearing pants, that was a first) and he lightly pushed his fingers to the back of her neck.

‘You know this means a lot, right?’, he whispered into the darkness, and Kate sighed.

‘I told Cap… Steve the truth. I’m not doing this for you, I’m doing this for me.’

‘Is that really the truth?’, Clint asked next, pushing his fingers harder onto her skin, for just a beat.

Kate didn’t answer. Instead, she deflected.

‘I wish Natasha was here.’

Clint sighed, but he also didn’t answer, he also deflected.

He pressed his lips very quickly to her neck, murmured a ‘Goodnight, Hawkeye’ and that was that, his breathing evened out a couple of minutes later.

Clint’s going to be the death of her, Kate knew it. She couldn’t dwell on it now, though. Bigger fish to fry.

She woke up a couple of hours later, to what sounded like Barnes screaming. She got up quickly and went into the hallway, where Sam and Scott were already at, but Hawkeye stopped them all from barging into their room.

‘Steve’s calming him down.’

She couldn’t hear a thing, but she knew he did. The hearing aids Stark hooked him up with were more powerful that a normal human’s ears.

So they stayed on the hallway and it didn’t take long for the screams to die down.

Sam swore under his breath and made his way back downstairs, and Scott just yawned loudly before going back to his room.

Clint took her hand and wordlessly led her back to their bedroom.

They faced each other on the bed now, and Kate lowered her voice as much as she could, when she asked what happened to James.

Clint closed his eyes when he answered.

‘Hydra got a hold of him in WW2. They gave him the arm and brainwashed him, made him do their bidding.’

‘How is he alive?’, she couldn’t help but ask. ‘Superserum?’

Clint shook his head. ‘He has something in him, makes him stronger and faster. But … they kept him on ice. Only got him out to wipe his memory, give him a new target to kill, then put him back in the fridge.’

Kate didn’t want to say how horrible that was, Clint new it.

‘You could talk to him’, is what she said instead. ‘You get it.’

‘Barely’, Clint shrugged. ‘You can’t compare.’

‘You can’, she insisted. ‘And maybe it’ll do him some good. You too. You should talk to him.’

‘Not now, though’, Clint answered after a while. ‘He needs to get back into… Steve’s orbit first. And he…’, he sighed, deeply. ‘We need to be safe.’

She couldn’t stop herself, from grabbing a hold of his hand and intertwining their fingers. But he didn’t seem to mind, in fact he smiled, brought their joined fingers to his lips and kissed her knuckles.

‘We’ll figure it out’, he said. ‘We’ll be okay, Hawkeye.’

Kate wanted to believe him, she really did. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t afraid.

But, somehow, she managed to fall back asleep. It might have had something to do with Clint running his thumb over her wrist. Maybe.

↙↗↑↓↖↘

Steve though he’d manage something if he spoke with Pepper. Maybe he could, Clint didn’t know. But he did know it wasn’t good for all of them to be there at the same time.

So he stayed behind, with James (much to his disapproval) and Kate (much to Clint’s approval).

She tried engaging James in conversation, but it didn’t work. He was incredibly closed off and jittery, which was understandable. So Kate gave up, and took them to the basement.

Which had a gym and a small shooting range. God bless Kate Bishop.

Clint sparred with James, for a while. It was clear that he was holding back, and Clint was thankful for it, his strength was nowhere near a metal arm, but it seemed to do James some good.

He seemed slightly more relaxed. Slightly.

When James upgraded to a punching bag, Kate came over and they spared. This time, Clint was the one holding back, only because he knew it annoyed Kate. And, sure enough, her insults turned into screaming, as he kept on grinning and easily dodging her punches.

But he let his guard down, at some point, so he ended sprawled on his back with Kate sitting on his chest.

She seemed to be just as surprised as he was.

‘Are you okay?’, James asked, coming to stand by their side.

‘I’m awesome’, Kate grinned up at him.

There was a hint of amusement in Barnes’ eyes, and that was a first.

‘You’re not the one on the ground, doll.’

‘Don’t call me that’, Kate grumbled, narrowing her eyes at James.

‘I’m okay too’, Clint said. ‘I quite enjoy this view.’

Kate froze, completely, staring down at him with huge eyes. It was gone quickly, though, because she punched his chest. It wasn’t hard, though, just a bit harder than usual.

‘You pig’, she seethed at him, getting up. ‘Seriously, you should stop flirting with me like that. People are already getting ideas.’

‘So?’, Clint shrugged, not getting up from the ground. ‘I don’t care.’

Kate shot him an incredulous look.

‘You don’t care that people think you’re fucking your protégé?’

Clint pretended to think about it. In fact, he thought about it a long time ago, and decided he really didn’t care. It was a lie. If it ever became a truth, he’d make sure that everybody important knew it was more than just screwing around. Especially Kate.

‘I should be so lucky’, is what he said out loud. Kate stared at him for a few long, awkward seconds, before wordlessly turning around and heading back to the shooting rage.

‘Is she really better than you?’, James asked in a whispered voice. ‘At archery?’

Clint shrugged. ‘It’s a draw. But she’s a better person than I am.’

Not surprisingly, James didn’t say anything in answer to that, and headed back to his punching back.

Clint spent a few more minutes just watching Kate shoot, before he joined her.

↙↗↑↓↖↘

Sam came back with an ugly cut on his cheek, Scott had bruised ribs and Steve was very very pissed.

Apparently, as soon as they got to Pepper, Iron Man and his team came and… fucked shit up. There was no reasoning with them, that’s what Steve kept saying.

James tried to calm him down, but after he realized there wasn’t any hope of that, he just sat back and listened to Steve rant.

Kate went on to wrap up Scott’s ribs and Clint helped Sam clean himself up. Steve kept ranting, for a while. At one point, he stopped completely, and turned to look at Clint.

‘Natasha’s…’, Steve sighed.

‘I know’, Clint nodded, not looking at the other man.

They were all silent for a while.

‘I don’t know what we can do’, Steve finally sighed and Captain America, admitting defeat, Kate has never in her life seen something as depressing at it.

She didn’t get a chance to say anything, before she felt a cold, familiar shrill down her back and, sure enough, Billy appeared in front of her.

In a blink of an eye, Cap had the shield at Billy’s throat and James had his wrists in a hold.

‘No’, Kate shrieked, Scott’s ribs completely forgotten. ‘Stand down!’

They didn’t move.

‘Captain, stand down!’, she said more forcefully. ‘He’s a friend.’

‘I just wanted to check on you’, Billy rasped out. ‘You weren’t answering your phone.’

As soon as Steve and James let go of him, Kate all but threw herself into Billy’s arms. But it was okay, because he hugged her back just as tightly.

‘Your apartment was trashed’, Billy said into her hair. ‘Clint’s too. And you weren’t answering your phone, and I… we panicked.’

Kate detached herself, huge grin on her face.

‘As you can see, I’m fine.’

‘Sure’, Billy gulped, looking around the room. ‘Captain America’s fighting Iron Man in the middle of New York, that guy’, he pointed at Scott, ‘looks like he got stepped on by the Hulk and…’, he took a deep breath, ‘we got the Government coming after us.’

‘What do you mean?’, Steve asked, putting his shield down.

Billy shrugged. ‘They tried to take us.’

‘Us?’, James asked.

‘The rest of our team’, Billy hesitated. ‘The Young Avengers.’

‘How could Stark have known?’, Kate asked, looking to Clint.

‘I didn’t tell him anything’, he was quick to say.

‘I didn’t either’, Steve said. ‘Not like I knew much, anyway.’

‘It doesn’t matter anymore’, Billy shook his head. ‘What do we do?’

‘ _We_ don’t do anything’, Kate said strongly, grabbing a hold of Billy’s hand. ‘You gather the team, take them somewhere safe.’

‘No’, Billy said, suddenly angry.

‘Yes’, Kate answered in kind. ‘You’re in danger, and you need to get out.’

‘We can help’, Billy insisted. ‘You know we can.’

‘Not this time’, Kate sighed. ‘This is way above our pay grade.’

‘Then you’re coming with me’.

Kate shook her head.

‘That might be a good idea’, Steve pointed out and she turned to glare at him.

‘Of course it’s a good idea’, she all but seethed, ‘but us Hawkeyes aren’t known for good ideas. So’, she turned to Billy. ‘Go.’

‘Katie’, Clint tried, but she told him off.

‘You came to me, Barton, I’m staying.’

They glared at each other for a few seconds, and Kate was taken aback by the look in Clint’s eyes. It was a new one, she has never seen before. It was something very emotional, and she hated that she couldn’t define it. So Kate looked away.

Smiled at Billy once more.

‘Thank you for checking up on me. But please go. Take care of the others.’

He kissed Kate’s cheek before he disappeared, leaving her with a very sour taste in her mouth.

‘We could have used their help’, Sam said, and Kate nodded.

‘Probably. But after we all kill each other, at least the world will still have a couple of superheroes to take care of it.’

Harsh, maybe. Kate didn’t mean to make Captain America’s face loose it’s color like that.

‘Come on, Katie-Kate’, Clint said oddly soft, grabbing a hold of her hand. ‘You’re gonna help me make dinner.’

↙↗↑↓↖↘

Kate never let him cook, because he always set it on fire. That’s what she thought, anyway. He didn’t mind, especially now, because Clint knew that chopping things up for the pasta sauce would calm her nerves.

That’s how she was wired.

So he kept his mouth shut as Kate cooked, and made sure not to let any of the other men inside the kitchen. Sure enough, as the pasta was done boiling and she was absently stirring in the sauce, she caved.

‘I’m scared.’

Clint figured as much, but he still hated hearing the words coming from her mouth. 

‘We’ll figure it out, Hawkeye’, he went for what little comfort he could offer. ‘We always do.’

‘And if we don’t?’

He hated that he couldn’t see her face, but that didn’t stop him.

‘Well’, Clint smirked. ‘Stark owes me enough to put me in the same cell as you.’

Kate snorted, and that was a good sign.

She looked at him over her shoulder, still stirring that god damn sauce, but making his heart beat hesitate for a while there.

‘I’m supposed to spend the rest of my life with you?’

That didn’t sound so bad, Clint thought. That didn’t sound bad at all.

‘I should be so lucky.’, he said for the second time that day, making her, again, freeze.

‘You need to stop saying things like that.’

Her tone was different than before. She wasn’t annoyed or pissed off. She was whispering, Clint barely heard her, and even though he couldn’t see her face, he could tell how… emotional she was.

Gosh, he loved her.

‘I don’t think I will, girly-girl.’

↙↗↑↓↖↘

Steve kept thinking of plans. Some good, some bad, but in the end it didn’t matter.

Because as they were finishing dinner, the news ran a story about how all the superheroes in the world have been captured.

How Iron Man and his team took everybody who didn’t come willingly, put them all in a super secret enhanced prison. How, over the next months, every one of them will be questioned and how the government was sure that everybody will comply.

Steve swore like he was a cowboy in an old western.

Scott spilled orange juice on himself.

Sam and James looked like they were about to run there right now.

Clint whispered a very distressed ‘aw no’.

And Kate… well… she threw her plate into the closest window. Of course, everybody startled and turned to look at her.

She looked to Steve.

‘We can’t wait anymore.’

He nodded, but James didn’t.

‘It’s a trap’, he said, and yeah, Kate figured as much, but what else could they do?

And just like that, she had an idea.

It was a crazy idea, because she promised him she will never tell the Avengers what she knew, not even Clint. But… desperate times.

‘I have to make a phone call’, she told the room. Clint got up from his chair, probably intend on following her, but Kate pushed him back down, promising she’ll explain everything else later.

Coulson picked up on the first ring.

‘I know’, he said. ‘Are you involved?’

‘Considering I’m in a safe house with Captain America and his team, yeah, I’d say I’m involved.’

‘Put me on speaker’, came the quick response, and that was really not what Kate expected, but she did as asked.

She went back to the kitchen, making sure to sit down next to Clint and put her phone in the middle of the table.

‘Steve, Clint, I’ve got someone who wants to say hello’, she said slowly. ‘Don’t scream.’

They didn’t scream when they realized Coulson was talking. And alive.

Steve said a very heartfelt ‘Coulson, you son of a bitch’, but he was smiling. Clint, on the other hand, was grinning like a mad person, all but bouncing in his seat.

He hugged Kate, surprisingly, very surprisingly. It took a beat for her to hug back.

‘I’m really angry you kept this from me’, he whispered into her ear, and she really hated the way it made her shiver.

‘You’ll pay me back later.’

And oh god, that sounded very sexual to Kate’s ears. So she pushed him away as gently as she could and turned to the phone.

‘So, Agent Coulson. Got any plans?’

‘Actually’, he said after a beat. ‘It’s director now.’

‘Director of what?’, Steve asked.

Kate really wasn’t the only one shocked by that answer. At least she didn’t fall from her chair like Clint did.

↙↗↑↓↖↘

Clint was ecstatic.

Coulson was alive, he was running Shield with the Cavalry and FitzSimmons by his side, Bobbi and Hunter were not only there, but back together, and, AND!, there were these new type of human aliens called inhumans that had superpowers and they were willing to help.

To help them, that is. They were on Team Captain America, as the media called it.

So yeah, on one hand, he didn’t feel good about that fact that he had to fight not only his friends but also the US Government, but at least he had backup.

He couldn’t sleep, obviously, no matter how late it was, his brain still going a mile a minute. He kept switching from grinning like an idiot to almost crying in desperation.

Kate started stirring next to him, and a second later, she elbowed him in the stomach.

‘Go to sleep’, she said, voice scratchy.

‘I can’t’, Clint admitted.

Kate sighed. ‘It’s going to be a horribly big day tomorrow, you need to rest. So do something about it.’

‘Honey’, he couldn’t help but smirk, ‘I’m not sure you’d be up to doing something about it.’

There was silence for a long while. Finally, Kate turned away from him, curling onto her side.

‘Go hump the gym’, she mumbled. ‘Or jerk off in the shower, I don’t care. Just go to sleep.’

Well, that went well. At least she didn’t insult him in any way.

But she was right, so Clint got out of bed, didn’t really bother putting on clothes (he was in his boxers, but everybody else was asleep), and went to the gym.

He ran a couple of miles on the treadmill, and made his way silently back to the room. Kate was snoring softly, in the middle of the bed, and when Clint came out of the shower, she hadn’t moved.

Clint didn’t want to wake her up. She needed the rest and she looked very peaceful, hugging a pillow to her chest and with her left foot out from under the covers.

So he very gently picked her up, putting her down back on her side of the bed. Kate only stirred when Clint got into bed, and she pushed the pillow she was holding between her legs, sniffling adorably as she wrapped both hands around Clint’s arm and put her head on his shoulder.

Kate gave him a very soft, sweet kiss on the skin there, that had him closing his eyes, sighing in contempt.

‘Yeah, Hawkeye’, she mumbled. ‘Sleepy sleep time.’

Clint did manage to fall asleep, and he didn’t know if it was the exhaustion from the gym or Kate’s warmth seeping into his body. Either way, he felt like he never wanted to wake up.

↙↗↑↓↖↘

The morning was a silent affair.

They didn’t eat together, everybody opting for giant cups of coffee and a quick breakfast, eaten while they were sorting out their weapons.

When there was a knock on the door, everybody froze.

‘It’s the pilot’, Sam said. ‘Shield said they’re gonna send a plane.’

So Clint moved to open the door. Kate didn’t see who was on the other side, but she heard him say an oddly excited curse word.

‘Ah’, she nodded. ‘Must be Bobbi.’

‘Who?’, Steve asked, making Kate smirk.

‘Ex-wife. Field name: Mockingbird.’

Steve was gaping. ‘He was married?’

‘You’re gonna love her’, Kate grinned at him. ‘Clint does _everything_ she says.’

Steve looked doubtful, but he didn’t say anything, before Clint came back in the living room. Bobbi was in full tactical gear, looking as hot and deadly as ever, and she was dragging Clint in by the ear.

‘Say you’re sorry’, Bobbi all but growled at Clint.

‘But-‘

‘Say you’re sorry!’

Clint sighed, turning to look at Kate.

‘Am sorry I got you into this’, he mumbled.

Kate couldn’t help but snicker. She also went to their side, urged Bobbi to let go of him just so she could hug her.

‘I’m alright’, Kate said into Bobbi’s shoulder.

‘Fine’, Bobbi sighed, stepping out of the hug. ‘I’ll believe you for now’.

She smiled at Kate, and it made her feel better, just a tiny bit. The very fond look Clint had in his eyes helped as well.

‘Wheels up in 30’, Bobbi said, looking to the rest of the room, before settling on Kate again. ‘Suit up, Hawkeye. Don’t wanna keep the boys waiting.’

Kate grinned at Bobbi one more time, spared a second to wink at Steve, before running up to her room, almost glad to put on her suit. She felt better when she was wearing her suit. Stronger.

And lord knows she’s going to need all the strength she can get.

↙↗↑↓↖↘

‘Gentlemen’, Bobbi said, ‘it’s a pleasure to meet you.’

‘Likewise, ma’am’, Cap smiled at her, polite as ever.

Quick introductions were made, Bobbi going over the plan one more time, before she turned to look at Clint and raised an eyebrow at him.

He didn’t like the look in her eyes. It usually meant that she knew something he didn’t.

‘How is she doing?’

Clint shrugged, there was no real way to answer that.

‘She’s not taking this very well.’, James said, making Clint turn to glare at him.

‘I spared with her yesterday’, James went on. ‘After dinner’, he added because of Clint’s confused expression. Made sense, Clint washed the dishes. 

‘She uh…’, Barnes frowned, looking down at his hands. ‘She was ruthless. Kept pushing herself, no matter how much I told her to stop. She… stopped eventually, cried for a while.’

‘The kid’s strong’, Steve told him with an earnest look in his eyes. ‘But she’s affected by this.’

‘I assume she doesn’t take you calling her _kid_ too well either.’, Bobbi said, arching an eyebrow.

Cap scoffed.

Clint swore. It didn’t just hurt him to know that Kate was hurt, it hurt him to know that she didn’t come to him.

‘So it’s okay for Barton to call her Katie-Kate and girly-girl’, Steve mocked, ‘but we call her kid or doll and we’re rude.’

Bobbi snorted. ‘Pretty much’, she shrugged.

Kate came back then, and Clint took some comfort in the familiar lines of her suit.

‘You good?’, he asked, and she narrowed her eyes at him. Then, she did the same to James, who had the decency to look away.

Kate sighed. ‘I’m good, Hawkeye. Ready to kick some ass.’

‘Language’, Steve, James, Sam and Clint said at the same time.

Steve scoffed, and everybody else laughed. Kate kept giggling as she stood on her tip toes to kiss Steve’s cheek, before very pointedly handing him the shield.

↙↗↑↓↖↘

There was a guy on the plane. He was young, kinda geeky looking, kinda rough around the edges. He was wearing a button up shirt, and as far as Kate could see, he didn’t have any weapons on him.

He really didn’t look like he had any place to be there.

‘This is Fitz’, Bobbi introduced him, and Kate saw Clint’s face light up.

‘Very nice to meet you’, he said in a rush, ‘do you have any toys?’

‘That’s why I’m here’, Fitz nodded, in a thick Scottish accent.

And then, they got down to business. Fitz had a lot of toys. For every one of them.

It was like Christmas came early.

Kate and Clint got an upgrade on their quivers, these new ones were bigger and lighter. Fitz also gave them a couple of more trick arrows, which Kate was very excited for. They all got some version of icers, which were non-lethal guns, and the Hawkeyes got a couple of arrows with that, too.

There was only one bump in the road, when Fitz offered to upgrade James’ hand.

‘It’s just a program’, Fitz explained, ‘that I could upload and it’ll make the arm run smoother. And Simmons, she’s our biochem expert, she worked with me on it, it should make the pain on your nerve extremities lessen.’

James looked … pale.

‘Barnes’, Clint said. ‘Fitz is the best engineer on Earth.’

‘No, I’m not’, Fitz didn’t hesitate.

‘Yes, you are’, Clint punched him lightly on the shoulder. ‘Stark is the only one who has a chance on being better, but’, he turned back to look at James, ‘Stark tried to get Fitz to work for him, as soon as he was out of highschool. But this kid’, he went as far as wrapping and arm around Fitz’ shoulders, ‘he said he wanted to go to college first. Two years later, after Fitz got a phd, Stark tried again. And, I kid you not, Fitz told him that he’d much rather work at Shield, because that meant that a lot more people can make use of his tech, not just Stark and his gigantic ego.’

‘How do you know that?’, Fitz frowned, gently pushing Clint away.

‘He’s still pissed about it’, Clint laughed. ‘He has Jarvis… well, Friday, constantly searching for any news of you. Still wants you and Simmons to work for him.’

‘So you trust him’, Steve said, ‘is what you’re saying.’

‘Yeah’, Clint grinned, absolutely no hesitation. ‘Just as much as I trust you and your shield.’

Steve and James shared a long look.

‘Are you sure it’s not going to make it worse?’, James asked Fitz and he was quick to nod.

‘Worst case scenario, the program does nothing. Best case scenario…’, he shrugged. ‘you’re gonna owe Simmons and I a beer.’

James accepted, and Fitz got to work. And Kate, she couldn’t help herself. She followed Clint to the cockpit, and she kissed his cheek, ignoring the look Bobbi was giving them.

‘You’re a good man, Hawkeye’, Kate told him, enjoying the startled look on his face. ‘I’m proud of you.’

Clint ducked his head. ‘You’re getting soft on me, Hawkeye.’

And she was.

God damn it, she was.

Kate turned around before she could say something even more stupid, like _I love you_ or _please don’t ever leave me_.

↙↗↑↓↖↘

‘… so today, we fight for us!’, Steve’s voice came inside Clint’s earpiece.

Cap was always a sucker for uplifting speeches, and Clint wasn’t going to lie, they did help. Somewhat.

Right now, though, Kate standing right next to him helped more.

Especially knowing what they were about to go into. Iron Man, Vision, War Machine, Black Panther, the entire US military. And Natasha.

But Kate was by his side. And on his other side, there was a kid who could shoot electricity out of his hand.

Clint took a deep breath, and in a spark of insanity, probably, took a hold of Kate’s hand.

She turned sharply to look at him. She was scared, obviously, and he could feel her heart beat going wild under his fingertips. But Clint could also see her determination, her will to do the right thing.

Another one of the reasons he loved her so much.

He wanted to say something, but he couldn’t think of any words good enough.

‘Yeah’, Kate said, squeezing his hand tightly, her voice cracking only slightly. ‘Let’s kick some ass.’

Cap gave the order immediately after.

And so, they charged.

↙↗↑↓↖↘

There was so much adrenaline cursing through her veins, Kate barely felt any pain.

She realized, logically speaking, that she should have felt pain. She had a couple of bruises for those soldiers that caught her with her bow down, she was bleeding in two different places, from stray bullets that scraped her skin and one guy managed to give her a pretty nasty knife cut on her ribs.

Kate didn’t feel a thing.

She just fought. And fought and fought and shot arrow after arrow and fought and fought. Kate tried her best not to kill. She used the icer, more often than not, and all the arrows that hit their marks didn’t cause lethal wounds. Captain’s orders.

They just had to keep them busy. They just had to stall, to draw attention to themselves. Just enough for the Shield agents to break into the prison and release everyone.

Just enough for Shield to break into the White House, to hack the news feeds and make a play.

Kate didn’t believe in God. It was a hard thing to do, when she knew about Thor and the Chitauri, when she looked down and saw all the blood on her hands.

But oh boy, did she pray for this to work.

She just took care of about a half of dozen soldiers when Iron Man descended in front of her.

‘Well if it isn’t mini-Hawkeye.’

Kate bit back her nasty response, instead reaching for one of the EMP arrows Fitz gave her. She wasn’t fast enough, and then she was above ground, Iron Man’s glove around her neck.

She couldn’t breathe.

‘Don’t mess with the big league, kid’, Stark growled in her face. He was about to say something more, but he didn’t. Instead, there was a buzzing sound, and the lights covering his eyes started flashing on and off.

He let go of her, and Kate fell to the ground, taking in big gulps of air.

When she managed to come back to herself, she saw the back of a guy, clearly Shield, who was shooting lightning out of his hands. Both rays were pointed straight at Iron Man’s chest, and somehow, Stark wasn’t fighting back.

The Shield guy pushed Iron Man to the other side of the battle field, then he quickly turned to her and helped her up.

Kate did a double take, because the guy looked like Clint. Sort of. He looked like she imagined Clint looked like when he was young.

‘You alright, Hawkeye?’, he asked, concern clear.

‘Yeah’, she nodded. ‘Thank you, uh-‘

‘Lincoln’, he grinned.

‘That’s a really bad superhero name’, she couldn’t help but point out.

‘I’m kinda new’, he shrugged. ‘Didn’t get to that yet.’

And then, there was no time for talk, because they were surrounded by soldiers. So they went back to fighting, this time back to back.

‘I’m almost out of arrows’, she told him at one point.

Lincoln pushed a button on his ear piece. ‘Daisy, Hawkeye’s out of arrows.’

There was a pause.

‘Girl Hawkeye.’, he winced at Kate. ‘I mean Woman Hawkeye.’

There was another pause.

‘Here’s a flare’, he aimed a hand up and shot a bit of electricity in the air, without actually hitting anything.

Just a couple of seconds later, Kate noticed a young woman coming straight for them. She was wearing Shield gear, and had both of her hands pointed straight in front of her. And there were arrows flying out of everywhere, stopping in front of the woman. Levitating.

She stopped right in front of Kate, letting the arrows fall down at her feet.

‘Heard you needed this’, she said, somewhat cheekily, and look, Kate might not wear makeup on a daily basis, but she knew her stuff, so she respected the hell out of a woman who went into battle wearing winged eyeliner.

‘Thank you’, she said, ‘uh-‘

‘Quake’, the young woman winked at her, before giving Lincoln a quick kiss, straight on the lips.

‘You good, Pikachu?’

‘Yeah’, Lincoln rolled his eyes. ‘Get out of here.’

After Quake left and Kate had the arrows back in her quiver, she couldn’t help but level Lincoln with a look.

‘I thought you said you didn’t have a nickname.’

He pouted. ‘I don’t, they just insist on using that. It’s stupid.’

Kate laughed. But it was cut short, because she heard Natasha’s voice, somewhere to her right.

‘We’re still friends, right?’

↙↗↑↓↖↘

This was probably the hardest thing Clint had to do. Fighting Natasha, for real.

They knew each other too well, their fighting brought them to a similar level of power, because they trained together, because they knew how the other one fought and because they knew each other’s weaknesses.

He really didn’t want to fight her. But right now, he managed to get Nat in a choke hold.

‘We’re still friends, right?’, she asked, and Clint hesitated only for half a second.

‘Depends on how hard you hit me.’

And he didn’t see her do it, but Nat got a hold of a knife, which she promptly shoved at his face. Clint ducked it, but he had to let go of her.

Nat turned around to him and didn’t hesitate, she slashed at him. The one in the thigh didn’t hurt a lot. The cut in the arm stung a little.

But when Nat pushed the knife right beneath his heart, Clint cried out.

He also fell to the ground. He might have hit his head, because the last thing he saw before he blacked out was Kate yelling like a mad woman, jumping on Nat’s back.

↙↗↑↓↖↘

She froze, as she watched Clint and Natasha fighting. Lincoln kept asking her what happened, but she couldn’t answer, she couldn’t take her eyes away.

But when she saw Natasha stabbing Clint for real, when she heard him scream, she didn’t think.

She took off, ignoring Lincoln’s yelp, and started yelling half way through. It gave her the power to jump on Natasha’s back and stay there. She tried to push Kate away, but it was clear that she was exhausted, whereas Kate… she was angry.

‘You hurt him’, Kate babbled, doing her best to choke Natasha. Her brain was completely fried, but her hands weren’t.

‘You love him, and you hurt him! What the fuck is wrong with you?’

‘Kate-‘, Natasha rasped out, but Kate straightened her hold.

She doesn’t know what else she said. She has no idea. But she does know that she took out her icer and shot her.

Twice. Then, Natasha fell to the ground.

Kate shot her again.

Then, she started crying and fell down next to Clint. She yelled for him to wake up, but he didn’t. There was blood pooling out of his head and he was as white as a sheet. He had a pulse, but-

‘The Government gave the fall back order’, Steve voice came through her ear piece. ‘Lower your weapons, stop fighting. This … was a success.’

Kate didn’t have the luxury of feeling happy about it.

‘Clint’s hit’, she said, knowing someone will hear her. ‘Help.’

Steve and James got there in less than thirty seconds.

‘Did you kill Natasha?’, was the first thing Steve asked, and Kate shook her head.

‘Iced her. A couple of times.’

‘Captain’, Kate heard Fitz over the comms, ‘Simmons and a med team are waiting at the south corner of the property. Can you get Hawkeye there?’

‘On it’, Steve said gravely, as fixed his shield on his back and effortlessly picked Clint up.

Kate was hot on their tail. Well, she would have been if James hadn’t stopped her.

‘Kid, you’re bleeding, and shaking.’

‘I have to-‘, she desperately tried to tell him, but he didn’t let go of her arms.

‘I’ll get you there, stand still for a second.’

Kate collapsed against his chest. Which was a good thing, because James picked her up bridal style and he started running after Steve.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lincoln picking Natasha up and coming after them. Before she could stop it, she let out a sob and wrapped her fingers tightly around the front of James’ vest.

‘It’ll be okay, little girl’, she heard him say. ‘It’ll be okay.’

Kate couldn’t believe him.

↙↗↑↓↖↘

Clint woke up feeling … everything.

Everything hurt.

He couldn’t move very well.

It wasn’t the first time he woke up like this. But it was the first time there were fingers running through his hair.

He struggled for a while, to open his eyes, but he was glad that he did. Because the first thing he saw were Kate’s blue eyes. Unfortunately, they were shining with tears.

‘Katie’, he rasped out, and she laughed, even if it was clear that she was crying.

‘You scared me so much’, she whispered, putting her head down on his chest. ‘Don’t do that again.’

‘Not m’fault. Nat.’, he remembered as much. Everything after that was fuzzy. Very fuzzy.

‘I protected your honor’, Kate mumbled. ‘Put her to sleep for 20 hours.’

That… Clint was proud of that. Proud of Kate. It took a lot to take down Nat, but apparently, Kate did it.

She sniffed two more times against his chest, before she straightened up. Her fingers left his hair and suddenly, Clint felt cold.

‘You’re gonna be okay, Hawkeye’, Kate smiled down at him. ‘We’re gonna be okay. Even if I…’

Her voice caught, and she cried harder. Clint didn’t really understand what was happening.

‘Even if I love you too much for it to be healthy.’

And then, Kate pressed her lips to his. That… was new.

That was nice.

That was incredible.

That was breathtaking.

That was over too fast.

Kate didn’t say anything else before she ran out of the hospital room, no matter how much Clint called for her.

That…

Clint didn’t know what to do with that.

He’d sleep, for now. He’ll… figure it out later.

↙↗↑↓↖↘

The next month was chaos.

It was clear that the Superhero Registration Act wasn’t going to be installed, but the Government couldn’t really admit to making a mistake.

So it was a bureaucratic mess, filled with interrogations and written reports and media and everybody trying to keep her true identity a secret and it all gave Kate a headache. But she was satisfied with the result.

The Government agreed to let Shield deal with superheroes, which was a shock in itself. They had conditions, of course, to always be in the loop and blablabla, but Coulson agreed to everything.

And, in private, every superhero on the list got a letter from Shield, with Coulson’s personal signature, that informed them that they were not, under any way, obligated to work with Shield. But if they ever wanted it, or needed it, Shield would always have its doors open.

It was a nice conclusion, Kate thought. Coulson was pretty badass, and he handled the mess well.

But what made Kate feel absolutely incredible was Stark’s public declaration. He had an entire speech written, and he went through the first part of it, but then he threw the flash cards on the ground and said, rather pointedly, that he fucked up, and that he needed people like Cap around to keep him in check.

It was awesome, really.

What wasn’t awesome, was the fact that Kate did not see Clint since the hospital.

It might have been her fault. She could’ve gone to his place, check on him, check on Lucky, but she didn’t.

He called. Every other day, Clint called. But Kate didn’t pick up.

She couldn’t, because she was scared. Not of Clint, never of Clint, but of the discussion they were bound to have. She wasn’t ready of that.

Rejection.

She wasn’t ready for rejection.

It was funny, she thought, how superheroes instantly became cowards when it came to matters of the heart.

And then, Steve called her.

‘I just wanted to know if you’ll be coming to Clint’s party tomorrow. Apparently, the roof of his building is the best place in New York to have a party at.’

‘Funny’, Kate said, ‘he didn’t mention anything.’

‘That is funny’, Steve agreed, ‘because he also told me how you’re not answering his phone calls.’

Kate didn’t answer, she couldn’t.

‘Look, kid-‘

‘Kate’, she had to point out.

‘Kate’, Steve amended, and even if she couldn’t see him, she knew he was smiling. ‘It’s not any of my business, what’s going on with you two, but I know a great relationship when I see one. I’m sure whatever happened, you’ll get past it.’

‘Maybe’.

‘Either way’, Steve went on, ‘I want to see you. We’ve done a great thing, and we should all celebrate it together. Coulson and his team are going to be there, and you freaked Bucky out the last time he saw you.’

She couldn’t help but smile.

Then she laughed, because here was Captain America, encouraging her to take on her heart.

‘Sure, Steve. I’ll be there.’

‘Great’, Steve was probably grinning. ‘And Kate? Wear a dress.’

↙↗↑↓↖↘

Nat was the first one to arrive, and as she helped him get all the booze to the roof, she tried to apologize.

Clint didn’t let her. Their relationship went way passed that, and in the end, she was just trying to do what she thought was right. He couldn’t blame her for that.

Still, she gave him an oddly tight hug and even a kiss on the cheek. Then, she promptly asked about Kate.

Clint didn’t have an answer to that. She was avoiding him, that much was clear, and he didn’t understand why, because _she_ kissed him. And didn’t even give him the chance to kiss back.

Which, he would have kissed her back. Probably. Surely after the drugs in his system wore off.

Nat had this look in her eyes, this patronizing look that most people got when dealing with children.

‘You love her’, was all she said, and yeah, that was obvious. Has been for a while now.

‘But you’re also in love with her.’

And, yeah, Clint figured as much. But she wasn’t answering his phone calls. And even if she would’ve picked up, Clint had no idea what he was supposed to say.

Let’s go back to kissing?

I need you in my life?

I’m sorry for being me?

Please don’t leave?

My dog misses you as much as I do?

He stopped thinking about it, when people started piling onto the roof. Sam clapped his shoulder, Scott gave him a hug but he was quickly distracted by Lucky, Steve opened a beer for him and James joined them, Coulson called him Clint for the first time ever, he had a shot of tequila with Fitz, because he still owed him for the awesome trick arrows and he finally got to meet the rest of Coulson’s team.

It was nice. The sun was starting to set, that Lincoln guy powered up all the lights Clint set up earlier in the day, Lucky was excitedly running from person to person getting kisses and pets and Clint felt an odd sense of calm.

And then Kate came. She looked a lot better than the last time he saw her.

↙↗↑↓↖↘

Kate wasn’t a girly-girl, no matter what Clint kept saying. That didn’t mean she didn’t know how to be a girly-girl. It was in the job description, well, the one where her father made her attend galas since she was 10.

And Captain America ordered her to wear a dress. She couldn’t disobey a direct order like that.

So she put on a simple black dress, tight over her torso, but with a flowy, circle skirt that stopped just above her knees. She put a thin purple belt around her waist and she made sure it matched her nail polish and lipstick perfectly.

Because, for once, she was wearing makeup. She went all out, really. Her cheeks were glowing, her winged eyeliner was as sharp as one of her arrows, and her lashes were as full as Lucky’s belly after pizza night.

She also took the time to do her hair. Nothing too complicated, just a curly bun at the base of her neck and a few chosen fallen strands to make it look a bit more like her usual messy style.

She didn’t put on heels, though, that’s where she drew the line. It was a roof party, she was supposed to enjoy herself, so she went for a pair of perfectly elegant strapped sandals, that didn’t hurt her feet.

It wasn’t over the top, she just looked like a put together girly-girl. She looked good. It didn’t help her feel better.

Because the moment she stepped onto the roof, she locked eyes with Clint.

He stared for a while, and she saw his eyes roaming over her body. And then, his whole face lid up, like a tree on Christmas morning. He smiled at her, so wide and fond, it kind of broke her heart.

She was blushing, she knew she was, but she didn’t have the strength to seek him out. Not yet.

Thankfully, Steve and James came by her side, handing her a bottle of beer. As Cap said, James was worried about her, but Kate assured him she was okay. They talked for a while, about what happened in the past month, and Kate finished her beer, absently petting Lucky as she did so. She wouldn’t be surprised if the dog stuck to her side for the rest of the night.

As she went to get another beer, she spotted Lincoln and Quake speaking with Coulson. She didn’t hesitate to go to their side, thanking Lincoln and Quake for having her back in the fight, and thanking Coulson for his letter. She also told him that she has no intention on being on the Shield pay roll, but if they ever needed the better Hawkeye, she’d be available.

And then Natasha was politely dragging her away, and Kate felt a deep sense of dread. But the Widow didn’t say anything, she just looked at Kate. It made her very nervous.

‘So’, Kate gulped. ‘Is this the part when you kill me for giving you a booboo?’

Natasha blinked. And then she started laughing. And then, holy fuck, they were hugging.

The Black Widow was hugging Kate, and she was hugging back.

‘Thank you’, Natasha said as she pulled away. ‘For stopping me.’

Kate really had no answer to that.

‘Take care of him’, Natasha went on, and it confused Kate even more.

But then she felt a familiar pair of fingers on her arm.

‘Hey, Katie-Kate’, Clint smiled softly down at her, his fingers slowly making their way down her arm. ‘Can you help me … uh… grab some more beer from downstairs?’

She let her eyes go to the table, which was still full of beer. Clint didn’t even feel ashamed about the incredibly bad lie. So Kate sighed, and accepted the hand he wrapped around her fingers, following him down to his apartment.

They were silent, but Kate knew what was coming. She still wasn’t ready for the rejection, but she knew she couldn’t live without Clint in her life anymore. The last month was torture. So, they had to settle it, they had to talk, and she had to beg forgiveness and for his friendship. Probably.

She really wasn’t expecting Clint to shove her back to the wall as soon as the door closed. She really didn’t expect him to be this angry, to get violent.

And then she opened her eyes.

He wasn’t violent, not at all. He was smirking, a playful excitement in his eyes.

Clint didn’t hurt her at all, she realized. His hands were on her waist, but they weren’t pushing, they were holding. His right thumb was playing with the belt.

‘You’ve been avoiding me.’, he said, and Kate could only nod.

‘Scared of me?’

‘Never’, she was quick to shake her head. ‘I’m … afraid of the talk we have to have.’

Clint hummed, smiling wider. ‘What if we don’t talk?’

Kate raised an eyebrow at that, and hesitantly put his hands over his arms. It only made him smile more, so she thought that was okay.

‘We …’, her voice broke, damn it. ‘We kinda need to talk.’

He tilted his head, mock considering.

‘You still owe me for not telling me about Coulson.’

Kate blinked, remembering a moment in the safe house when his voice made her get goosebumps, just as it did now.

‘What do you want?’

Clint took a deep breath and a step forward, basically pushing his entire body to hers. His grip on her waist tightened, still not to the point of pain and really, Kate stopped breathing two minutes ago.

She couldn’t look away from his eyes. They were so warm, so fond, so excited.

‘How about’, Clint whispered, ‘you give me a chance to kiss you back this time?’

The ground swept from under her feet and the only reason Kate was still standing upright was the wall at her back and Clint’s hands on her waist.

But he didn’t kiss her. He just… waited. His eyes skipping from hers, to her lips and-

‘Please’, Clint whispered, a hint of desperation seeping through, ‘give me a chance to kiss you back.’

Kate was the one to kiss him the first time. Of course Clint would make her be the one to do it again.

So she did.

↙↗↑↓↖↘

Everything was on fire and Clint never wanted to drink water again.

And, really, if Kate could get him to wax poetic like this, you can tell how good of a kisser she was.

Or maybe it was just the fact that he was so far gone for her.

As he promised, Clint wasted no time to kiss her back. Kate started out pretty hesitant, but that was gone as soon as Clint put a hand on her neck to tilt her head where he wanted it, and as soon as he bit on her lower lip.

Kate pressed forward then. Which was useless, because her back was to the wall, and Clint was pressing forward as well.

When her hands moved to his hair, Clint moved his hand from her waist to her ass. When she opened her mouth for him, Clint moved his hand under her skirt, scratching at her thigh.

When she groaned because of that, he faltered. She whined against his mouth, and Clint focused back.

But it was hard, because she smelled like lavender, and her lipstick tasted like cherry bubblegum. And she was scratching his neck, her other hand fisted in the back of his shirt, and her leg was wrapped around his waist, and this new position meant that every time she shifted her hips, they blushed in the best of ways against his (really, kind of embarrassing) erection and this was happening and he really hoped he still had some condoms in his bedroom because this. was. happening. and-

‘Stop’, Kate said, and Clint froze, his heart breaking faster than his hard on.

She took a deep breath and pushed her nose against his neck, placing a soft kiss there before talking, the voice whispered against his skin.

‘There’s a party upstairs. We should really get back to it.’

‘Aw, Kate, no.’, he really couldn’t help but whine.

He felt her smile, though.

‘That… that wasn’t a _no, stop forever_ though, right?’, he really couldn’t help but ask.

She grinned up at him and kissed his nose.

‘No, that was a _stop for now_.’

‘Good’, Clint breathed out, and just looked at her for a while, as she unwrapped her leg from around his waist.

‘You’re absolutely beautiful’, he breathed out, ‘but maybe you could uh… powder your nose.’

Kate frowned, but she shrugged and headed for the bathroom. And sure enough, 10 seconds later,

‘Oh my god, Clint! I look debauched.’ She was faking being mad, though, he could hear her laughing.

He did that. Clint did that. He couldn’t help but grin.

He also started thinking about dead puppies and Nick Fury in a pink bathing suit.

↙↗↑↓↖↘

Yeah, the party was good.

And yeah, the superheroes were safe for now, that was good too.

But nothing was as good as the sound of Kate screaming his name, or the way her purple nails looked scratching his stomach, the way her lips felt on his body, the way her body trembled under his fingers, the cheeky grin she had as he was screaming her name.

Gosh, he loved Kate Barton.

Uh.

Bishop.

Kate Bishop.

Gosh, did Clint Barton love Kate Bishop!


End file.
